Reloading EverythingMidSouth Shooters SupplyTitan ReloadingRotoMetals2
Inline FabricationWidenersRepackboxLoad Data
Lee Precision
Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 61

Thread: AGM battery for garden tractor?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master

    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Foothills, NC
    Posts
    2,223

    AGM battery for garden tractor?

    Many years ago, my brother in law gave me his AGM battery when he shipped his motorcycle. Despite sitting for months at a time on his bike, the battery was strong and cranked my garden tractor with vigor, even with its smaller size. When it finally gave up, I replaced it with a typical lawn and garden battery, then two years later, another. Even when new the LG batteries don't have the power of the AGM. My current battery is struggling in the colder weather. I am thinking about another AGM but they are $80 vs $30-$40 for the LG batteries. The AGM would need to last 6-8 years to break even. Worth it?
    Last edited by Silvercreek Farmer; 02-22-2019 at 07:48 PM.

  2. #2
    Moderator


    Winger Ed.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Just outside Gun Barrel City, Texas
    Posts
    9,483
    Sounds cost effective. I'd get the good one.

    Manufacturers can 'adjust' the quality and life of batteries just like they can with light bulbs.
    Like so many other things, it tends to be a 'get what you pay' for industry.

    Years ago, I knew a guy that worked at the old Dallas Lead Plant.
    He said they could analize a lead alloy for batteries and tell you almost to the month how long it would last in a given climate.

    For example: Batteries don't like being cold any more than I do.
    The 'die hard' with a 72 month warranty sold in New York,
    is about twice as good as the one you buy in Texas with the same warranty.

    One of our warehouse suppliers had a new area manager move down from NYC with a die hard in his car.
    As he traded cars around, he kept/swapped out the old battery.
    It was about 10 years later when he sold a car ,,,,,,, and it had that old battery- still on the job..
    Last edited by Winger Ed.; 02-22-2019 at 08:08 PM.
    In school: We learn lessons, and are given tests.
    In life: We are given tests, and learn lessons.


    OK People. Enough of this idle chit-chat.
    This ain't your Grandma's sewing circle.
    EVERYONE!
    Back to your oars. The Captain wants to waterski.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    Farmerville,Louisiana
    Posts
    1,357
    Yep, used to buy batteries at big box stores, for lawn mowers, wouldn’t last maybe 1 year. Buy a good one name brand now they last. In batteries you do get what you pay for. Had several AGM batteries, but not good comparison because were old when i got them but lasted a good while, don’t think there meant for this application tho. Mostly for power chairs and scooters. JMO.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
    Mal Paso's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Carmel, Ca
    Posts
    4,121
    AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat. They are Lead acid batteries but the acid is in a fiberglass mat to keep it from spilling. The likely difference is a $40 battery VS an $80 battery.
    Mal

    Mal Paso means Bad Pass, just so you know.

  5. #5
    Moderator Emeritus


    georgerkahn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    South of the (Canada) border
    Posts
    3,051
    With six pieces of equipment I, too, played the costly buy at least one new battery per year game. I bought NAPA batteries for the most part, too. Then -- a decade ago -- a friend turned me on to Battery Minder, and Battery Tender products. I bought, and they even maintain batteries of several units, in parallel. You fasten a short provided wires to the battery, and then plug the cord from the unit into it. NO measurable effect on the electric bill; they're plugged in 24/7, except when I am on them; and -- best of all -- it's been pretty close to ten years since I needed to replace a battery! With their built in de-sulfator circuitry. they even make the batteries better! Amazon, Northern Tool, and others purvey these for less than thirty bucks -- I got mine for ten dollars less, on sale. https://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...er+Model+12117
    geo

  6. #6
    Boolit Master

    xs11jack's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    O'Fallon, Mo.
    Posts
    1,127
    I was given a Toro Lawn mower that has electric start. I took the battery out last fall. It is a small rectangular box with two small tabs for connecting to the starter. The box is completely sealed there isn't any marking on it. So does any one know it this is a type of battery with a bunch of single cad all tied to gather or some other scheme.
    Ole Jack
    "'Necesity' is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of Tyrants: it is the creed of slaves."
    William Pitt, 1783
    "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we faulter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Abraham Lincoln.

  7. #7
    Moderator


    Winger Ed.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Just outside Gun Barrel City, Texas
    Posts
    9,483
    Quote Originally Posted by xs11jack View Post
    I was given a Toro Lawn mower that has electric start. I took the battery out last fall. It is a small rectangular box with two small tabs for connecting to the starter. The box is completely sealed there isn't any marking on it. So does any one know it this is a type of battery with a bunch of single cad all tied to gather or some other scheme.
    Ole Jack
    Just a wild guess, but if there is no manufacturer's label on it-- whoever made it isn't too proud of it either.
    So I would figure it's a throw away rather than a real good one.
    In school: We learn lessons, and are given tests.
    In life: We are given tests, and learn lessons.


    OK People. Enough of this idle chit-chat.
    This ain't your Grandma's sewing circle.
    EVERYONE!
    Back to your oars. The Captain wants to waterski.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
    metricmonkeywrench's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    1,107
    So for me it's all about convienance, here mower batteries seem to last 2yrs or so. Wally world is just down the street. I hate having to hold up mowing for something that simple.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master

    rancher1913's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    plains of colorado
    Posts
    3,640
    the agm batteries are built to take shock and even be used upside down, its what is in most skid loaders.
    if you are ever being chased by a taxidermist, don't play dead

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master Bazoo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Cecilia, Kentucky
    Posts
    6,715
    I've has good luck out of duralast batteries from autozone. Got a tough one in an old bronco, and got one that's 6 years old in the mower. It sets a month or more sometimes and always fires up.

  11. #11
    Moderator Emeritus


    JonB_in_Glencoe's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Land of 10,000 Lakes
    Posts
    15,832
    I had a AGM battery explode in my ATV (Honda 450).
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ttery-explodes
    I had got 4 years of use before it blew up.
    I replaced that with another AGM battery ($100), only lasted two years, then would no longer hold a charge.

    Since that one didn't last long, I figured I may as well go cheaper, so i bought a Chrome-Pro iGel battery on Fleabay for $40. It has a built in digital volt meter, kinda neat. That one is still going strong, I'm in my 3rd year with it, and started my 450 Honda in the below zero temps a few weeks ago, no problems. I see they are now $56 on amazon.
    https://www.amazon.com/Chrome-Batter.../dp/B01BX9OYIU

    I am rebuilding a small riding lawnmower this spring, I will probably buy another one of these for it, instead of using a cheap walmart LG battery
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
    ― The Dalai Lama, Seattle Times, May 2001

  12. #12
    In Remembrance
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    fairbanks
    Posts
    9,015
    My luck with batteries are they are just batteries, I have bought what is suppose to be the best gel filled batteries for cold weather at redicoulas prices, the only good thing I can say is they did replace them several times. I have bought the cheapest at sams for my 4 wheeler and it sits outside all winter and has seen it 50 below, bit fires right up in the spring the first 2 years, I did have to charge it the 3rd, but it wasn't dead, just wouldn'tspin it fast enough. Then I put 4 new batteries in my truck, that has battery shutoffs in it that froze so bad they broke the tie downs, I had put the old ones in my other truck and it fired right up the next spring. They were the same brand, figure that one out.
    My air comp generally sits outside and rarely gets started during the winter, I just bought the first replacement battery last week for it. It was the first time it has gone dead, in the 6 years I have owned it, and I bought it used.

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master

    jonp's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    8,281
    I buy mine at WalMart. I keep it on a trickle charger and they last several years with no problem.
    I Am Descended From Men Who Would Not Be Ruled

    Fiat Justitia, Ruat Caelum

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    gardners pa.
    Posts
    3,443
    in 2000 I bought a new Harley the battery lasted for 8 years. I have not been able to get a battery to go more then 2 years since. in fact I have had the last 2 sealed batteries die while out on the road.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master

    Hickory's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    The Great Black Swamp of Northwest Ohio
    Posts
    4,434
    I have my battery in my motorcycle and tractor wrapped with heat tape.
    I plug them in when the temperature drops below freezing.
    Political correctness is a national suicide pact.

    I am a sovereign individual, accountable
    only to God and my own conscience.

  16. #16
    In Remembrance

    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Nct, Ohio
    Posts
    1,097
    My son had a Yardman rider that would eat a battery in a months time, average four mowings a month at 90 minutes each. I figure the charging system was junk at best so I built a bracket that bolted on the back of the frame and it housed a small car battery that I had as a spare, 500 cca out of an Escort, that battery went over 1 1/2 seasons before needing a charge and it sat all winter in an unheated shed.
    I have that mower now and a new lawn mower battery lasted about a month so now I just put a ten amp charge to it for five or ten minutes to start it, tired of messing with it so to speak.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master Boolit_Head's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Posts
    988
    I used to get a substantial discount at a battery distributor. I'd go into the office and buy a battery then go to the loading dock to get it. There whey would get the battery and ask me what label I wanted on it. Seems there are only maybe 3 battery manufacturers in the US. I was offered Die Hard and Interstate labels along with others. I don't remember them all.
    On every question of construction let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.

    Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June 12, 1823

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Posts
    986
    My John Deere mower battery, which was original equipment when I bought the mower new five years ago, is still good. I don't know that there's anything special about it. It has cell holes where you add water like any other battery. It spends the off season in an unheated barn; I'll start if a few times through the winter when I think about it. All I do is keep it full of distilled water, and I've never had to charge it. After my experience with disposable ATV batteries, I'll probably get another JD battery when the time comes. I'm sure it'll be more expensive, but probably worth it.

  19. #19
    Banned

    tomme boy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Clinton, Iowa
    Posts
    5,200
    I work part time at one of the big parts stores. I can not say which one. But I can tell you this pretty much all batteries are made by about 3 companies and it is how you treat them is how they are going to last. Especially the garden tractor batteries. They are about the cheapest made batteries made. The AGM batteries are really good. But they really need a smart charger to make them last to their full potential. Plus they need to be unhooked and taken in the house over winter. All batteries should that are not going to be used.

  20. #20
    Boolit Master

    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Foothills, NC
    Posts
    2,223
    I probably use my tractor at least every 2-3 weeks over the winter.

Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check